Niagra Falls and Niagra on the Lake
Summary
Yes its eclipsed in size and power by other waterfalls round the world . . . and the tourist infrastructure around it is 10/10 tacky . . . but it’s a must see. Watching the power of the water rushing over the horseshoe-shaped arc of the falls is mesmerising and, lets face it, one of those places that as a kid you always wanted to visit
If you’re visiting from the Canada side, and as a day trip from Toronto, I’d suggest be sure to:
1. Head up the Skylon Tower for great high up views of the falls
2. Take the Maid of the Mist boat to get up close (and wet) with the falls themselves. You’ll wear a poncho, and get lost in it
3. Visit Niagra-on-the-lake – give yourself a couple of hours to wander through the well-preserved, and just really cute, 19th century town
4. If have time, head over to one of the ice wine vineyards to sample the relatively unusual, and super sweet, ice wine. We went to Dan Aykroyd’s, bizarrely
highlights
#1 Seeing the thunderous horseshoe falls from above
#2 Getting lost in a poncho in amongst all the mist on the Maid of the Mist boat
#3 Checking out the super cute Niagra-on-the-Lake, a well preserved quaint old town
#4 Trying some of the ice wines in the nearby vineyards. Super sweet and worth the 30mins
Experiences nearby
The below map shows experiences nearby with a colour that reflect the Overall Score of those experiences
Other Waterfall Experiences around the World
Score Detail
Background - how many times have you asked someone what a travel experience was like and the response was "amazing" or "awesome"? That response is nice to know, but it makes it hard to differentiate that experience compared to others. That is exactly what these scores are trying to do - differentiate the experience by giving a score out of 10 based on 6 categories and then giving an overall experience score
This overall experience score is calculated by: take the highest of the "Culture" or "Nature" score (1-10) + "Fun factor" (1-10) + "Avoiding the crowds" (1-10) + highest of the "Unique" or "World Famous score" (1-10). Then convert into a score out of 100
Extra detail - the logic being that I find all of the 6 individual scores important, but I don't want to mark an experience down just because it doesn't cover both "Culture" and "Nature", or because it isn't both "World Famous" and "Unique". Take the examples of Safari in The Serengeti and walking through Rome - they both appeal at opposite ends of the nature / culture spectrum, and you can have a fantastic time without needing to appeal to both sides. So, their overall scores aren't penalized for their lack of one or the other, and I've done the same for "World Famous" vs "Unique". But . . . I do think that the "Fun factor" of an experience is important, irrelevant of other factors, and so is "Avoiding the Crowds" (or where there are crowds that add to the experience). So, both of these scores are standalone